Incandescent-lamp socket



(No Model.)

F. C. ROKWELL. INGANDESCENT LAMP SOGKET.

No. 422,634. Patented Mar. 4, 1890.

N. Pneus, mwmmgupner. wammgmn D. c

UNITED STATES;v

PATENT OEEICE.

FREDERICK C. ROCKVELL, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

lNCANDESCENTl-LAIVIP SOCKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 422,634, dated March 4, 1890.l

l Application filed November 29, 188?.I Serial No. 331,937. (No model.)

T0 all wiz/071e it 11i/Ly concern; l

new and useful Improvements in Electric- Lamp Sockets, of which the following is a'full,

clear, and exact specification.

The invention relates to the class of sockets provided for the base of incandescent electric lamps; and the object is to produce a socket which shall be more safe against the possibility of short-circuiting the current through the parts by accidental contact Aor the accumulation of matter, fewer in its parts, and more cheaply constructed than prior sockets of this class.

Referring to the accolnpanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side view of one form of an incandescent lamp provided with my improved socket. Fig. 2 is a sectional view, on enlarged scale, of the socket. Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view taken on a pla-ne at right angles to the plane of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the blank from which the sockets are rolled. Fig. 5 is a side view of the socket after it has been rolled into a cylindrical form. Fig. 6 is a view showing the parts'of the body separated. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the socket adapted to a different form of lamp from that shown in the above figures. Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the socket adapted to a still different form of lamp.

In the views, the letter a indicates the body of the socket, which is `formed cylindrical of layers of paper, cloth, or a material of similar texture which can be easily rolled to shape and is a non-conductor of electricity, currentconducting leads p and n'being embedded between the layers when the body is formed.

inders being subjected to heat and pressure Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. Rocio; WELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford andf State of Connecticut, have invented certaint to unite them. The layers of material from which this cylindrical body is formed are cemented together by a suitable binding material, which preferably consists of a composition of a gum, as rubber or shellac, and a hardening or vulcanizing agent, as sulphur, that is rendered strongly adhesive by a suit- 6o able amount of Yheat and pressure, the surfaces of the strips being treated with a coating of the cementing matter before the cylinder is formed.

In adapting the socket for lamps of the pattern wherein the socket-s are held to the base by spring-fingers metallic iingers l) are attached to the strip which is to form the body and rolled between the layers, as is the case with the leads p and n, so that the ends which I7o grasp the base of the lamp only are exposed. The upper end of the lead n is bent inward and downward, forming a spring arm n', which normally is not in contact with the upward-projecting hub which connects with one 7 5 of the platinum leads of the lamp,but maybe made to make contact with this hub by turning the key c', which is supported by the walls of the socket and provided with a camblock c', usually of insulating material. One of the 8o circuit-wires is joined to this arm near the top of the socket, while the other wire is connected with the upper end of the lead @which is preferably an integral extension of one of the spring-fingers b. The cap CZ, having the usual wire-opening, is stamped from layers of paper preferably joined together by a gum cement, the capV having a pair of diametrically-opposite indent-ations, which enter bayonet-slots in the top of the socket to keep it in 9o place.

Alf the lsocket is to be adapt-ed for a lamp wherein t-he socket is attached to the base by a screw-threaded coupling, as in some patterns, a sheet of metal c, provided with a coarse screw-thread,is rolled between the layers of paper in place of the spring-fingers above described.

Instead of having the lead p terminate inspring-iingcis or a threaded thimble, the end Ioo may be bent inward and made to Inake contact with a ring placed in the top of the base, as in one form of lamp in common use, and the socket secured to the base in the usual manner in lamps ot' this pattern. The exte# rior of the socket is usually coated with a suitably-colored lacquer to give the socket a finish.

The current is taken from one of the circuit-wires by the lead p and passed through the spring-fingers or the threaded thimble to the base of the lamp, which is connected with one of the leads to the filament, and after passing through the filament to the lead that rises through the hub in the center of the base is conducted by the lead n to the return circuit-wire.

In a socketformed in this manner the leads are perfectly insulated from each other, there are no places where the accumulation of dust or moisture can short-circuit the current, and the body being of insulating,lr material, it cannot become charged, so there is no danger of diverting the current by an accidental connection between the body and a ground.

The socket may bc made smaller than those now in use, as there is but little mechanism in the interior, and as it is not necessary to make the Walls as thick as when the body is formed of a friable granular composition, the paper giving a fibrous strength and firmly holding the composition with which the layers are bound together, so that it cannot sulphate and crackle under the heat of the eurrents passing in the vicinity. The composition under the heat and pressure used in formation permeates the pores of the texture ot' the body and gives it stiffness and rigidity.

The paper exterior of the socket is capable of a high finish, which is not affected by temperature or moisture.

Together with the advantage of security and durability, the expense of the manufacture is greatly lessened, as the paper cylinders, with the inelosed leads, can be rapidly rolled to shape and the caps pressed to shape in the time that was required in forming the insulating-pieces of the prior sockets.

I claim as my invention- 1. A socket for an incandescent electric lamp, consisting of superimposed layers ot' a thin non-conducting material, with currentconducting leads vembedded between the layers, substantially as specified.

2. A socket for an incandescent electric lamp, consisting of layers of a thin non-conducting material wrapped about each other, with current-conducting leads embedded bctween the wraps, substantially as specified.

3. A socket for an incandescent electric lamp, consisting of layers of a thin non-corr ducting material wrapped about each other,

with current-conducting leads anda coupling for the base embedded between the layers, substantially as specified.

4. A socket for an incandescent electric lamp, consisting of layers of a thin non-conducting material wrapped about each other, with current-conducting leads embedded between the layers, and a key supported by the walls of the socket, bearing a cam-block near the end of one of the leads, substantially as specified.

FREDERICK C. ROCK\VELL.

Vitnesses:

I-I. R. WILLIAMS, A. B. JENKINS. 

